Amazon Is Secretly Becoming a Bank

The e-commerce giant has launched a capability for UK shoppers to pay for products and services using cash, according to TechCrunch. Dubbed Amazon Top Up, customers can load £5 and £250 into their Amazon UK account, the report says. The service mirrors Amazon Cash, which launched in the U.S. in April.

While the cash put into the account cannot be withdrawn -- so technically Amazon isn't a bank -- it does help underbanked people shop on the internet platform.

Regardless, there is no denying Amazon is at least starting to look like a bank.

Amazon said in June that its Amazon Lending service surpassed $3 billion in loans to small businesses since it was launched in 2011.

In the last 12 months alone the eCommerce giant has loaned over $1 billion to small businesses.

"We created Amazon Lending to make it simple for up-and-coming small businesses to efficiently get a business loan, because we know that an infusion of capital at the right moment can put a small business on the path to even greater success," Amazon Marketplace VP Peeyush Nahar said in a press release.

Over 20,000 small businesses have received a loan from Amazon and more than 50% of the businesses Amazon loans to end up taking a second loan.